The Miriam Black Series

In the sixth and final thriller of the “wildly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) Miriam Black series, Miriam tries to break the curse of her powers, but first she must face The Trespasser a final time.

Still reeling from the events of The Raptor and the Wren, Miriam must confront two terrifying discoveries: the Trespasser now has the power to inhabit the living as well as the dead, and Miriam is pregnant.

Miriam knows her baby is fated to die, but Miriam is the Fatebreaker. And if the rules have changed for her nemesis, her own powers are changing as well. Miriam will do whatever it takes to break her curse and save her child. But as Miriam once again finds herself on the hunt for a serial killer and in need of an elusive physic, she can feel the threads of her past coming together—and the pattern they’re forming is deadly.

To end the Trespasser’s influence in her world, Miriam must face her demon a final time. And, this time, one of them must die. Vultures is a heart-pounding conclusion to the series: “Think Six Feet Under cowritten by Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk” (SFX).

Miriam Black, in lockstep with death, continues on her quest to control her own fate in The Raptor and the Wren, the brand-new fifth book in the Miriam Black series.

Having been desperate to rid herself of her psychic powers, Miriam now finds herself armed with the solution — a seemingly impossible one. But Miriam’s past is catching up to her, just as she’s trying to leave it behind. A copy-cat killer has caught the public’s attention. An old nemesis is back from the dead. And Louis, the ex she still loves, will commit an unforgivable act if she doesn’t change the future.

Miriam knows that only a great sacrifice is enough to counter fate. Can she save Louis, stop the killer, and survive?

Hunted and haunted, Miriam is coming to a crossroads, and nothing is going to stand in her way, not even the Trespasser.

“Wendig expertly splashes Miriam’s considerable emotional pain across the page, never sparing her the price of her gut-wrenching circumstances, and closes with a shocking twist that is a true game-changer.” — Publishers Weekly

“With a dark storyline and an even darker protagonist, this vivid adventure takes readers on an emotional, violent ride. VERDICT: The fifth book in the series (after Thunderbird) drives further down the road into Miriam Black’s life: the trauma, the fears, and the forgiveness. It will please fans of Joe Hill and Joe Abercrombie.” — Library Journal

“Wendig dials to eleven the violent maelstrom that is Miriam’s life, pulling in a gaggle of familiar characters from past installments along the way, tying them together into a tangled rat king of death and discovery. This time around, the narrative hits even harder than before, propelling Miriam well beyond her comfort zone and forcing her to dig herself in even deeper to survive. As usual, Wendig writes like he’s driving a truck full of dynamite downhill, on ice, and his brakes are out, careening madly from one absurd action beat to another, with black humor keeping pace all the way.” — Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“The Miriam Black series flips between genres, blending together elements of horror, mystery, psychological thriller, and urban fantasy into something deliciously addictive. Raptors is more on the thriller/horror/dark UF bent, a novel full of sharp writing, harrowing plot and subplots, and devastating characters. The Raptor and the Wren is an heartbreaker of a book that’ll leave you gasping for breath by the final page. Bring on the finale!” — Tor.com

I wrote this book in the fall of last year, which was, umm, an interesting time politically, and one in which I found myself getting very little sleep, so this book was sort of stolen from and produced by a ongoing fight with insomnia. Not that I recommend it as part of your writing regimen, but honestly, I think that contributed well to the overall vibe of the book.

This is a pretty, um, rough book. Like, if you imagine the Miriam Black books to be an entire series of Empire Strikes Back-level downers, then this book is the Empire Strikes Back of that series. It represents a hard row to hoe for poor Miriam, and shows her growing and changing while also grappling with a series of new existential threats for her and those around her.

It also contains an owl called BIRD-OF-DOOM, so there’s that.

I never know exactly where to put the Miriam books on a genre-scale — some call these urban fantasy, but this book has no “urban” in it, nor is it particularly fantastical, though the supernatural is an everpresent backdrop. It’s a little bit crime, for sure. It’s a little bit horror, most definitely. They’re thrillers, no doubt, supernatural thrillers, written with the kind of (hopefully) relentless pacing where you read it with a breathless pace — the pace of someone being chased through a house by a machete-wielding murderer.

Yesterday, as noted, I just finished the sixth and final (!) book, Vultures — which should come out a year from now, roughly. That one is a bit longer than all the others, and it both sad and exhilarating to have finished a six-book series. I won’t spoil what’s to come in that book, because then I’d spoil what’s to come in this book.

Beautiful cover, by the way, is from Adam S. Doyle.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy it, and the series. If you have enjoyed any of these books, I’d sure love a review written at a site like Amazon or Goodreads, or spraypainted on a city bus, or written in elegant calligraphy on the side of a whale, or burned into the moon using a big laser. Thanks!

In the fourth installment of the Miriam Black series, Miriam heads to the southwest in search of another psychic who may be able to help her understand her curse, but instead finds a cult of domestic terrorists and the worst vision of death she’s had yet.

Miriam is becoming addicted to seeing her death visions, but she is also trying out something new: Hope. She is in search of another psychic who can help her with her curse, but instead finds a group of domestic terrorists in her deadliest vision to date.

REVIEWS

“Despite a few years away from the series due to a change in publishers, it takes no time to feel right at home with Miriam again. Wendig slams down the accelerator on page one, and never lets up for a moment. His frenetic, shotgun style of prose is a trademark, and nowhere does it hit with as much force, drive, emotion, and explosiveness than when deployed in service to Miriam Black. His descriptions of her inner turmoil—should she get rid of her powers, when they are all she can rely on to uncover the coup—are among the best moments in the book, and truly show the growth this once-broken drifter has experienced since we first met her. Her pain is our pain and her fears are our fears as she puts her hopes on the line again and again to save a young kid who may hold in his grasp a terrifying ability. Wendig surrounds his dark knight with a cast of luridly colorful, broken, vicious, and powered people, especially the woman of the hour, Mary Scissors, whose true powers and motives are something horrifying to behold.”

“This gritty, full-throttle series is what urban fantasy is all about, with bitter humor rounding out lyrical writing. It’s easy to root for this mouthy, rude, insensitive, but innately good young woman, and her story hits the reader like a double shot of rotgut.”

“Once again, Wendig finds a way to blend startlingly powerful descriptions and deep emotional gravity into a gritty, cynical narrative. The action comes fast in this fourth Miriam Black novel and the pace is relentless, but Wendig has control, carefully building his heroine and her world with each chapter in a way that is fascinating and thoroughly entertaining. New readers will have a good deal of catching up to do here, but for those who have followed Miriam’s remarkable adventures to date, the chance to watch her character, and her personal relationships, grow ever deeper and more complicated should not be passed up. A final, utterly devious premonition is sure to leave readers feverish for further installments of this haunting and ever-entertaining series.”

Now someone — some rich asshole from Florida — wants to pay her so he can find out how he’s going to die. But when she touches him, she receives a message sent back through time and written in blood: HELLO, MIRIAM. It’s a taunt, a warning, and the start of a dangerous and deadly game for everybody’s favorite carcinogenic psychic, Miriam Black.

What Others Are Saying

“The plot is strong and weird and fits Miriam like a black leather glove with the fingers cut off. It turns and twists and dives – I sat up all night reading this damn book on my cell phone, for Pete’s sake. It’s well put together, nuanced, and in the end, satisfying–with no easy outs. Now, what interested me about The Cormorant was that everything I’ve just written is completely true and yet, it’s only about half of what’s really going on. The writing is a scary, wild, obscene crash of sound and yet there are elements and overtones of Shakespeare and Rimbaud and Dante hidden deep inside. Miriam Black is a solid taut block of arrogance, anger, and screaming rage – except that when you look back at what she’s actually done, you see a very different person. Someone who wants others to be happy, hates the death that washes around her, and never, ever stops fighting. (The descriptions of the muscular, desperate, physicality of her battles are worth the entire book alone). She isn’t a fake bad person nor a fake good person–she’s really both.” — Terry Irving (writing what is maybe one of my favoritest reviews of my books ever, because damn if he doesn’t get Miriam)

“Books that play around with time jumps and framing are also tough to pull off, but Chuck Wendig does it here perfectly, switching to flashbacks and other perspectives at the most appropriate moments, emphasizing the suspense when it is most required. Reading this one was like a roller coaster ride, except there are no dips, only highs and loop-de-loops. Between the outrageous things Miriam says and finding all about the creepy villain in this book, my butt alternated from being perched on the edge of my seat one moment to being laughed off the next.” — BiblioSanctum

“Miriam Black is back. Irreverent and sardonic as ever. I don’t know how Chuck Wendig manages to find that balance of brash irreverence without taking it too far, but he is a master… I loved Blackbirds and really liked Mockingbird, but this third one blew away my expectations, or rather maybe Miriam put them in their place with a good dose of foul language and bad assery. In other words, I absolutely loved it.” — Tenacious Reader

“Cormorant, as is usual for this series, delivers action and creeps in spades, but the dim light at the end of the long dark tunnel of Miriam’s life is now just a little bit brighter. Miriam’s story remains an undeniably addictive one, and I finished this in one sitting. Wendig’s writing is better than ever, and this series continues to surprise and terrify in equal measure.” – My Bookish Ways

“First and foremost, holy crap. If there is an author out there these days who is better than Chuck Wendig at taking you by the throat rather than the hand without so much as a how-do-you-do first, I haven’t encountered them. The Cormorant starts off not only strong, but fast and furious – and it stays that way from beginning to end.” — Over The Effing Rainbow

“Chuck Wendig structures this book brilliantly… you are still kept guessing all the way to the last page.” — Bite The Book

“Frankly, I find it one of the most compulsively readable series in any genre.” — Adventures Fantastic

“Miriam’s powers mean something to people, and she’s playing defense not only for herself, but for other people now. It’s a great shift for the series, and one that’s making it a little more essential from volume to volume.” — Fruitless Pursuits

“Wendig does it again with this furious installment in the Miriam Black series. Miriam is angry, bitter and conflicted as ever, but this time she doesn’t have Louis to help her. She’s on her own, after having left him behind. I really love Miriam. She’s the devil on my shoulder, the bad words in my head. She’s the voice that I hear the split second before I pause and say something that’s more PC. Luckily, Miriam doesn’t have that problem and what she thinks pretty much comes out of her mouth. She’s hilarious, strong, edgy. She’s punch in the gut and then a drink of kool-aid.” — The Windy Pages

“I read The Cormorant in a single sitting, for me there is just something wonderfully addictive about Miriam’s acerbic personality; she can destroy people with a single utterance. Sometimes waspish, often harsh, her barbed comments are a constant delight (well, as long as you’re not on the receiving end of them). It’s nice to see that as this series has developed Miriam has evolved as a character along with it. Slowly but surely the author has revealed the different layers to her personality.” — The Eloquent Page

Miriam Black Knows How You’re Going To Die

Miriam is trying. Really, she is.

But this whole “settling down thing” that Louis has going for her just isn’t working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis–who’s on the road half the time in his truck–is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings to everything she does.

It just isn’t going well. Still, she’s keeping her psychic ability–to see when and how someone is going to die just by touching them–in check. But even that feels wrong somehow. Like she’s keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle.

Praise For Blackbirds (Miriam Black #1)

“Blackbirds is a horror story, a traveling story, a story of loss and what it takes to make things right. It’s a story about fate and how sometimes, if we wrestle with it hard enough, maybe we can change it. Blackbirds is the kind of book that doesn’t let go even after you’ve put it down and nobody else could have made it shine like Chuck Wendig.”
– Stephen Blackmoore, author, City of the Lost and Dead Things

“Mean, moody and mysterious, Blackbirds is a noir joyride peppered with black humour, wry observation, and visceral action. Fans of Chuck Wendig will not be disappointed.”
– Adam Christopher, author of Empire State

“A gleefully dark, twisted road trip for everyone who thought Fight Club was too warm and fuzzy. If you enjoy this book, you’re probably deeply wrong in the head. I loved it, and will be seeking professional help as soon as Chuck lets me out of his basement.”
– James Moran, Severance, Doctor Who and Torchwood screenwriter

“A deliciously morbid road movie waiting to happen, Blackbirds takes an ingenious central concept and riffs on it like some souped-up mutant conglomeration of Angus Young, James Hetfield and Keith Richards. Chuck Wendig should be both delighted and thoroughly ashamed of himself>”
– Jason Arnopp, scriptwriter of Stormhouse and Doctor Who: The Gemini Contagion.

“Enchanting and drowned in blood, Blackbirds is a meaty piece of fiction, a non-stop mind-job where the first hit hurts and you keep going back for more. It’s the kind of gritty, unapologetic story that grips you long after the book’s done; dark, intense, utterly without mercy. Chuck Wendig spins one hell of a tale.”
– Karina Cooper, author of the Dark Mission series

“Truly the dark fantastic. Blackbirds is one of the most amazing, gritty, gruesome, witty, terrifying, wonderful books I’ve been lucky enough to read this year.”
– Kat Richardson, author of the Greywalker Chronicles

“Gritty and raw, Blackbirds sports a unique heroine in the form of Miriam. Both sympathetic and pitiable, she dances through Chuck’s brilliant turns of phrase and crisp writing to an illuminating ending which begs the question: Are we truly masters of our own fate?”
– Allison Pang, author of A Brush of Darkness

“Balls-to-the-wall, take-no-prisoners storytelling at its best.”
–Bill Cameron, author of County Line.

“Chuck Wendig unloads with both barrels and Blackbirds hits you like a shotgun blast to the torso at close range.”
– Matthew McBride, author of Frank Sinatra in a Blender

“Wendig’s lean, muscular prose powers through a twisty page turner without wasting a word. His take on the classic prophesy tale is clever, fun and drops a new surprise on you every few pages, making it very hard to put down. A deliciously entertaining read.”
– C. Robert Cargill (AKA Massawyrm of Ain’t It Cool News and co-writer of Sinister)

“The writing is absolutely outstanding, it’s 100% my kind of narrative, there’s just not a single ounce of fat, it’s all muscle, that’s the best way I can describe it. Not a single word is wasted, every one of them packs a punch.”
– Fantasy Nibbles

“Chuck Wendig has raised the bar of the urban fantasy genre and introduced a dynamic new character who, if left to her own devices, will most likely steal more than just your heart.”
– New York Journal of Books

“… the characterisation is without a doubt the real highlight of the novel, managing to create living breathing people with a few deft strokes of a pen.”
– Anthony Jones, SFBook.com

“[Blackbirds is] the kind of book that has the potential to put Wendig on the map as a ‘must-read’ author – I know he’s made my list. Highly recommended.”
– SQT, Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’ News & Reviews

“Everyone dies eventually and the way it happens isn’t fair; the way you check out is the way you check out. Wendig appeals to the slightly nasty part of us that we don’t want to admit to but know is there. Who amongst us doesn’t secretly want to know how it all ends for us? And who amongst us doesn’t want to know how others die so that we can hope for something a little easier for ourselves?”
– Graeme Flory, Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review

“Blackbirds is a high energy, whisky-fuelled ride, that will pull you along for the journey and have you questioning whether we can change destiny. A must-read book by an author that is worth watching.”
– Hannah Mariska, Fantasy Faction

“This is urban fantasy, but done in a fresh, bloody, broody, exciting and exhilarating new way.Blackbirds is one of the best books of the year so far, and a real must read.”
– I Wish I Was a Book